Carly Kilby , RVN , NCert ( Anaesth ), NCert ( Surgery ), ISFM Cert FN
BVNA
Carly qualified in 2006 and has worked in mixed first opinion and referral practices around the South West . She loves anaesthesia , surgery and theatre practice and is currently a locum for peripatetic orthopaedic companies . Carly is the BVNA representative for the South West .
ABSTRACT Anaesthesia brings challenges to maintaining normothermia . The standard warming devices used can hinder radiographic diagnostics , due to the nature of their positioning and reliance on patient contact . This audit highlights inadequate patient warming during routine diagnostic imaging and explores the consequences of not using heating devices during radiography of the anaesthetised canine patient . It suggests interventions to prevent patients undergoing radiography from potentially becoming hypothermic .
Keywords hypothermia , radiography , clinical audit
Introduction
A clinical audit is a quality improvement process aimed at providing better patient care and improved clinical outcomes . It highlights areas of improvement in practice and implements change for clinical development .
This audit was prompted by practice meetings at which patient observations during the anaesthetic recovery process were discussed . All patients that had undergone anaesthesia for diagnostic imaging were discharged from the practice with a reduced body temperature compared with those patients that had undergone anaesthesia for a surgical procedure . This was assumed to be due to the surgical patients receiving active warming throughout their anaesthetic and surgical procedure , maintaining normothermia .
30 Veterinary Nursing Journal